Forza Ferrari!!!

The recent F1 season is by far the most exhilarating and dramatic season with the spying scandal and drivers’ feud thanks to McLaren that added human spice to a sport that seemed to focus on speed and technology.

I really thought the race is between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. I was dead wrong! I know that Kimi Räikkönen is still in contention but I kind of dismissed the idea of him winning. Like his moniker “Iceman” suggest, Kimi was like a predator stalking the two McLaren drivers and when he had the chance, pounced and ran away with the drivers’ championship. Very very sneaky! Not to downplay Kimi, he actually had a good start this season winning the Australian Grand Prix. His teammate Massa and the two McLaren drivers outpaced him until the 7th and 8th race, French and British Grand Prix respectively. And come winning time, he won 3 of the last 4 races, the Belgian, Chinese and Brazilian Grand Prix. He won a total of 6 races this season compared to Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton each having 4 wins. Also notable this season is his tenacity, which made him at striking distance of the driver’s championship. At times he did not finish on the podium, with 2 retirements in Spain and Europe, he still managed to score points by finishing no. 8 in Monaco (1 point), no. 5 in Canada (4 points) and no. 4 in the US (5 points). Kimi Räikkönen finished with 110 points, both Alonso and Hamilton with 109 points, truly a heartbreaker for the two… as cold as it can get by Kimi.

Felipe Massa racing on his home track (Brazilian Grand Prix) made complications for the two McLaren drivers. Starting on pole position, I am pretty convinced that Massa should have won the race but would have cost Kimi Räikkönen the drivers’ championship. But knowing he’s the number two driver and already out for the drivers’ championship, I suspect that he gave way. That’s the Ferrari winning formula that Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have used in the past and the McLAren driver’s should learn it if they want to be on top. A clear line of who is number one and two must be drawn.

The Ferrari Team once again proved that they are at the top of the sport. At one point in the season, when the spying scandal broke out, the question that’s bothering me is how they can beat McLaren? But somehow towards the end, they were able to win 9 races over McLaren’s 8 or they were just lucky Hamilton made a mistake in the wet Chinese Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton is truly surprising and is the future of F1. He could have won it, first ever as a rookie, if not for the mechanical failure early in the race that cost him to start from the back. But due to his superb driving, he still managed to finish 7th including a brave curve overtaking Rubens Barrichello. BMW and Williams allegedly made some refueling irregularities and if they were penalized, Hamilton would have moved up to 5th place and won the drivers’ championship by a point. But Hamilton, the competitive gentleman he is, expressed no interest in winning by a protest… he prefers to win the title on the track. A few more seasons or maybe next season, he’ll surprise us again but I hope not with race retirements!

Fernando Alonso’s winning streak on the other hand has been singed. Was going to McLaren a mistake on his part? For McLaren, it was truly a gain. There’s a lot of question for Alonso right now and since the season is over, everybody’s wondering whom will he race for. Ferrari looks content with their present lineup. Will he go to Toyota to replace Ralf Schumacher? His best chance of winning is with a team with a superior car and at present, that’s Ferrari and McLaren. Or he might as well return to Renault, BMW? The whole world is guessing right now.

With Michael Schumacher out of the picture and with Alonso’s failure to win this season, the playing field is pretty much leveled which makes next season exciting… Especially the newly added Singaporean Grand Prix night race!

F1 Super Season Ender

What a way to end a season! Three drivers are deadlocked on winning this season’s F1 Drivers' Championship. At the end of the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton still leads the pack with 107 championship points followed by Alonso with 103 points and lastly Räikkönen with 100 points. The final race to resolve the dispute… the Brazilian Grand Prix.

I watched the other night the replay of the Chinese Grand Prix on Star Sports. The Drivers' Championship would have been considered in the bag for Hamilton if not for the mishap (probably his own doing… rookie mistake). He was leading considerably and made a mistake in not changing his tires to dry weather ones much earlier (in the early part of the race, the track was wet). He opted to stay with his wet weather tires and drove fast as Räikkönen attacked him. As the track was beginning to dry, his tires deteriorated loosing grip and as he was entering the pit (there’s a sharp curve leading to the pit), he slid off to the gravel trap and got stuck forcing him to retire.

Any of the three driver’s mentioned earlier are now given a chance to win the Drivers' Championship with the following scenarios using the top eight point system (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1):

• Hamilton can be on top and make history as the first rookie champion if he wins the Brazilian Grand Prix. He will end up with 117 points.
  

• If Hamilton finishes 2nd and Alonso wins the race. Alonso will have 113 championship points and Hamilton with 115 points. Hamilton still wins!

• If Hamilton finishes 3rd or 4th, he’ll end up with 113 and 112 points respectively. Alonso finishes 1st or 2nd, he’ll end up with 113 and 111 points respectively. So, with Alonso at 1st and Hamilton at 3rd, we have a tie.

• If Hamilton does another rookie mistake and not finish the race… the dream is over and it’s up to Alonso and Räikkönen to slug it out.

• For Alonso to win, he must finish 1st with Hamilton finishing lower than 3rd place.

• For Räikkönen to win, he must finish 1st with Alonso finishing lower than 2nd and Hamilton lower than 6th place.

Felipe Massa in 4th place with 86 points is already considered out for the drivers' championship but he can surely complicate things for the top three if he won the race like he did last year (2006 Brazilian Grand Prix).

Nobody can really predict the outcome of this season even if McLaren outnumber Ferrari wins in the Brazilian track (11 to 8). If we are to consider the race wins from year 2000 onwards, Ferrari outnumbers McLaren (3 to 2). See the details on Wikipedia!

Will the raging Spaniard do a three-peat? Will the rookie make history... or history with another mistake? Or be surprised by the Finnish in red! I guess we’ll just have to watch the ultimate race on October 21!

The Filipino who conquered Mexico

And so… Pacquiao scored another win… though some are not happy about the way he won. The Filipino people have gotten used to knockout wins by the peoples champ. There are a lot of possible reasons he was not able to deliver the devastating blow to Barrera’s career and here are some;

• Pacquiao was obviously overweight before the weigh-in prompting him to still workout and reduce food intake unlike Barrera. This definitely affected Pacquiao’s knockout power although his stamina in all 12 rounds is superb.

• In their first fight, Manny was able to floor Barrera many times in the early rounds and finally downing him in the 11th round. In their second outing, Barrera could have been knocked out if not for the cheap shot in the 11th round while the referee is separating the two fighters. Pacquiao obviously hurt and shaken was not able to do a follow-up assault buying Barrera time to recoup.

• My Dad though… has his own theory. I don’t know if his eyes are already failing him but he believes Pacquiao’s gloves were thick. Meaning he was really overweight during the weigh-in but the promoters according to my Dad kept it a secret and instead penalized Pacquiao with padded gloves. Which resulted to softer than usual blows by Pacquiao. Sounds extreme but I chose not to argue with the guy who religiously followed Pacquiao’s career even in his Blow-by-Blow days.

• The really sound explanation is due to Barrera’s conditioning and tactics as evident in his footwork always gearing away from Pacquiao’s southpaw stance. He definitely wants to finish the bout and retire standing on his two feet. But should the fight go on, Pacquiao would have ripped his face! Babyface assassin no more…

Here are other updates with Pacquiao. Before the fight, he was reported to be moving to the lightweight division because of the difficulty he encountered in trimming his weight. Then, after the fight, Pacquiao is now open to fighting in two weight divisions and would really like to face Edwin Valero. The latter is the sparring mate of Barrera and has been itching ever since for a fight with Pacquiao. Barrera claimed Valero is capable of beating Pacquiao, a thought he made public during the post fight conference.

Each of Pacquiao’s fight is a fight for survival and respect. He can’t afford to lose at this stage in his career… although he’s already rich and retirement seems logical. But warriors like Pacquiao have a destiny to fulfill, before he retires, he must reach the ultimate reward of being a legitimate world champion.

Hectic Sunday Afternoon!

Today October 7, 2007 is the much-awaited rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. I checked the ESPN site and it was reported that Pacquiao won via unanimous decision. Would have been better if it was a win via knock out but then Barrera is definitely prepared this time around and without question physically fit. But a win is still a win! At the moment (3:27 PM), I’m still watching the delayed telecast now on round 10. The middle rounds of this 12 round fight are so far war and Manny is still on the rampage showing no signs of slowing down. I’m waiting for the controversial 11th round.

But today is not just about Manny. On the local front, it’s UE vs. La Salle game 2 for the UAAP championships. UE is trailing La Salle (Al Salle) and if they lose today, it’s a big blow out for what might been a perfect season for them (14-0 in the elimination round). UE definitely have to bounce back. Viva Mapua… ooooppps!

On the international front (my friend JJ buzzed me), there’s 10 laps left in the F1 Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton spun out and was out of the race. Alonso is currently number 2 behind Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen. This gives Alonso a chance for the driver’s championship (trailing Hamilton by 12 points)… wish for another blow out by Hamilton in the Brazilian Grand Prix (last race of the season)!